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We are all gearing up for the third election in a row when boat turnbacks and the punitive treatment of refugees and asylum seekers feature. It need not be so. It's time voters sent a message that it should not be so. The overwhelming majority of our politicians and the overwhelming majority of voters are… ...

The prime minister and other politicians joined religious leaders on Sunday to show a united front against hate speech, but some say political rhetoric is part of the problem. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says those in the left accusing him of fanning anti-Muslim sentiment in Australia are "just as bad" as Senator Fraser Anning… ...

The latest attempt to make it harder to become an Australian citizen came this week as the government spends $9 million to deal with an application backlog thought to be more than 200,000. Biak Thwang Urai lives in a modest home in Melbourne’s west with his wife and six children. Arriving home from his job… ...

Thousands of people have joined Palm Sunday rallies around the country calling for an end to offshore detention. Protesters brandished signs with messages including "Bring Them Here", "Vote Humanity Not Atrocity" and "Say Yes To Refugees" as demonstrations were held in a number of capital cities and regional centres on Sunday. At Sydney's Belmore Park,… ...

The Australian federal police has blamed the Department of Home Affairs for the circumstances which led to the arrest and detention of Hakeem al-Araibiin Thailand. Under questioning at Senate estimates in Canberra on Monday, it was revealed home affairs took almost three weeks from when it first received Al-Araibi’s red notice to when it told the… ...

Home Affairs officials have defended awarding a contentious $423 million Manus Island security contract to a little-known company called Paladin. Paladin, whose Australian arm is registered to a beach shack on Kangaroo Island, won the lucrative federal government contract through a restricted tender process The global company reportedly won the deal despite not having enough… ...

In the wake of the medevac legislation – allowing for those detained on Manus Island and Nauru to be transferred to Australia for medical treatment – the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has claimed the new measures will propel a fresh wave of asylum seeker boats on to Australian shores. But in Indonesia, where more than 13,000 asylum seekers and refugees… ...

Penny Wong has indicated Labor will target the Paladin offshore detention security contract in Senate estimates this week, accusing the government of failing to explain why the company was awarded $420m in contracts through closed tender. The Australian Financial Review has reported that Paladin Group’s $420m of contracts to provide security to refugees on Manus Island… ...

Labor has suffered a sharp fall in popular support after a week of incendiary political claims over border protection, with the party leading the Coalition by 51% to 49% in its narrowest result in more than six months. Voters have shifted against Labor in significant numbers amid the escalating row over the refugee medical transfer… ...

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has recorded a secret video targeted at people smugglers, warning that those willing to make the dangerous journey “will not succeed”. The two-minute video, recorded in Canberra late on Friday night, will be translated into 15 languages and aired in countries rife for asylum seekers including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and… ...